Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club
An ARRL Special Service Club since 1970
For many years, I have been a fairly active VHF/UHFer and particularly enjoy operating in VHF/UHF Contests and like to encourage others to do the same. Knowing that many local area hams have been licensed for just a short period of time or have never participated in a VHF/UHF contesting event, I traditionally clog local ham radio chat rooms with announcements for these operating opportunities.
Continue reading “Summary of N6ZE/K1FJM ARRL September 2018 VHF Contest Operation”
Twelve CVARC members began building mag loop antennas under the guidance of Adrian Jarrett-K6KY on Saturday, December 15th. We’ll need one more day to finish the project (12/29) and then everyone should go home with a great antenna! Continue reading to see more pictures from the event.
The next regular club meeting is Thursday, January 17, 2019 (always the third Thursday) at the East County Sheriff’s Station’s Community Room 2101 E. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks at 7:30 pm.
Talk-in coordination is on the Bozo repeater, 147.885 ( – 127.3).
Topic/Guest Speaker: Power: Something all hams need is clean, reliable power. Mark Olson, the son of a ham, has had a 37 year career at Southern California Edison. Mark will give us a brief history of electrical power and discuss modern power systems, electric issues, power emergencies, power safety and radio interference.
Raffle Prizes: RF Connector Adapter Kit, RTL-SDR Dipole Kit, Book “Arduino Projects for Amateur Radio”
Pre-Meeting Dinner: Join fellow club members for a pre-meeting dinner at 5:00 pm, at Bandit’s Grill and Bar, 589 N Moorpark Rd, Thousand Oaks. 805-497-7427.
Amateur Radio repeaters and TV (ATV) have helped to keep the broader community informed on the local status of widespread fires in Southern California, radio amateurs say. CVARC member Benjamin Kuo, KI6YR, who had to evacuate but now is back home, said remote Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) mesh cameras captured video from fires across Southern California earlier this month, including the early stages of the Woolsey Fire.
ATV cameras also offered views of some of the state’s less prominent fires, including the Briggs Fire in Santa Paula, and the Peak Fire in Simi Valley. Continue reading “Repeaters, Amateur TV Play Communication Role in California Fire Emergency”
The 2019 CVARC Board of Directors was elected at the November 15th club meeting.
President: Stu Forman – AD6SF
Vice President: Brett Price – KM6VFW
Secretary: Andy Ludlum – K6AGL
Treasurer: Christian Ylagan – K6CAY
Editor/Publisher: Stu Forman – AD6SF
Education: Kat Hunley – K6VQN
Technical: Adrian Jarrett – K6KY
Operations: Bill Willcox – KF6JQO
Public Relations: Paul Van Zuyle – K6PVZ
Social: Mike Felio – K6MJF
Member at Large: Zak Cohen – N6PK
Member at Large: Mark Horner -KK6IKX
Member at Large: Diane Wainwood – KJ6JEJ
The CVARC Holiday Party is December 13 at the Best Western Posada Royale on Madera Road in Simi Valley. The cost is $30/person. The club meeting on Thursday, November 15th is the best time to sign up and pay for your tickets. If you are not attending this month’s meeting, you can send a check, payable to Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, to P.O. Box 2093, Thousand Oaks, CA 91358 by December 1st.
There will be TWO Raffles at the Holiday Party: One prize is a $350 DX Engineering Gift Card. Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. You can buy tickets at the club meeting. Winner need not be present. The second raffle uses all the raffle tickets purchased throughout the year. The prize is a gently used mobile rig that was donated to the club: A Yaesu FT-100 (HF + 2m/440). It originally retailed for $895. One sold last month on eBay for $599.99. The prize package includes two external speakers, a travel tuner, an SWR meter, power supply, cables, ground straps and mounting hardware and more. All total, this is probably a $7-800 prize package. For this raffle, winner must be present.
The next regular club meeting is Thursday, November 15, 2018 (always the third Thursday) at the East County Sheriff’s Station’s Community Room 2101 E. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks at 7:30 pm.
Talk-in coordination is on the Bozo repeater, 147.885 ( – 127.3).
Topic/Guest Speaker: Ham Radio Apps for Cell Phones: Stu Forman-AD6SF will lead a discussion about the many ham radio apps available for the iPhone and Android cellphone platforms. The apps range from testing, reference and logging tools to APRS trackers and streaming-audio software such as Echolink.
Raffle Prizes: 31 ft. Heavy Duty Fiberglass Telescopic Pole, Ham-it-up Plus Upconverter, ARRL’s Magnetic Loop Antenna Book
Pre-Meeting Dinner: Join fellow club members for a pre-meeting dinner, at 5:00 pm, at Yolanda’s, 590 East LA Avenue, Simi Valley, 805-306-9933.
Mt. Rushmore is a famous historical monument. Do you know where it is located, and the names of the people whose faces are carved into the mountain face? The answers can be discovered in the Morse Code files below.
Remember the first two numbers in the file name indicate the character speed and the second number is the overall code speed. Continue reading “The Mt. Rushmore of Code Tests”